Lost Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 4)

Mommy! Daddy!

Please don’t hurt me! I want Mommy!

So many memories swarm me at once, but it’s just my presence inside her, so I drop out, trying not to let her know I’m even inside.

My breath hurts when I land inside my body again, and I fight the urge to let her emotions linger inside me. As much as I hate to hurt her, I have no choice but to mark her to ensure there are never any possessions.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper to the child who sobs harder when she hears how close I am. She never looks up, just shakes with terror.

I make it quick when I grab her arm and do something only my kind can. It’s a gentler process than others have to use in order to brand themselves and prevent possession, but she screams in agony because it still hurts like hell.

Her head flies back as she screams louder, and tears fill my eyes when she stares at me like I’m a monster. She struggles uselessly, and my gut clenches. Her eyes roll back in her head when she finally passes out, and I look down at the lines on her wrist where I’ve marked her. They fade quickly, as they do on a human, and become an invisible barrier that will keep her safe.

“We can’t get out of here!” I hear Chaz shouting as I carefully remove the girl from the cage, cradling her to my chest as I stand. “It’s a barrier!”

If he releases that wall of fire, we’ll be blasted. If he doesn’t release that wall, he can’t drain the barrier of our trap.

My eyes look up in search of said barrier, but see no proof it exists. Apparently he sees something I can’t.

I try dematerializing, but it doesn’t work. There is definitely a barrier.

I also become thankful for that, because I could have just killed the child in my arms if I had dematerialized. Shit.

Fire burns hotter, and Chaz releases some horrifying sound as his body tenses.

I look over to see others rushing into the room, all buried in red eyes as they hurl power at the wall that is defending us, trying to weaken it. A roar escapes Zee as his control slips.

I’m not sure what’s more dangerous at the moment—an unrestrained Chaz and out of control Zee, or the demons who want us dead.

Leah is throwing knives around the wall, but screams when her hand gets sliced into by the power of the demons. Apparently she’s not impervious to all magic like we’d assumed.

That’s the trigger that sets Zee off, and my breath catches in my lungs as Zee implodes, releasing so much power that I feel the pulsing of it in my heart.

My body coils around the child as I spin her away, ducking as painful waves of it roll over me. “Zee, no!” I hear Leah yelling, sounding pained too.

Screams release from the room, but I don’t know who from. I’m too focused on keeping the child shielded from anything and everyone.

She whimpers in my arms, but doesn’t wake up. Cursing, my eyes scan the area as more and more surround us. I feel the power without seeing them.

But then I feel a familiar power that has my body tensing all over.

The walls groan as the power ripples through the air, and I hold my breath as I coil tighter around the child. I chance a glance over my shoulder just as the top of the cave is suddenly yanked away. Rocks crash all around, and I push out power to cover me. The rocks won’t hurt me, but the human I’m protecting is fragile.

Fire swirls through the air, slamming into three of them just as Chaz unleashes the last of his restraint. At least I hope that’s the last of it.

The wall drops as Zee continues to fight with black eyes and no sanity. Leah spins through the air, slicing through the hordes of never-ending night stalker demons. Silan is on the ground, bleeding out through his mouth, and I watch as the red leaves his eyes. I also watch as it disappears into the air, the demon inside escaping before dying with the host.

My eyes snap up as Slade lands inside, slamming into the ground so hard that it cracks beneath him. The top barrier has been ripped away, because Slade always prepares for the worst. The crack in the ground slithers all the way over to me as his silver eyes connect with mine.

Shit.

He’s pissed.

Hopefully he doesn’t try to kill anyone that I want to stay alive.

His gaze snaps away, and I watch as he slowly stands. When his dark grin emerges, I stand with the child in my arms, knowing without a doubt the four of them can handle this without my help.

My eyes move up to the missing top, seeing the open night sky above me. It looks like we’re inside a volcano now. A deep one.